


Two Months or Two Thousand Years

by aflawedfashion



Category: Killjoys (TV)
Genre: Dutch’s mother, F/M, Not Dutch... a different Yalena to be clear, Romance, human khlyen, i would never write Khlyen/dutch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2019-07-06 18:01:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15891192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aflawedfashion/pseuds/aflawedfashion
Summary: As Yalena drifts to sleep in her cryopod, she remembers the first time her husband left her side and how he returned to her.





	Two Months or Two Thousand Years

Yalena closed her eyes as the cryopod lulled her to sleep, her consciousness drifting to memories of her 19th summer, the summer Khlyen had left Qresh on the first of many business trips to fight for their struggling place among the 10 families. 

She kissed him goodbye as they stood in the great hall, surrounded by servants and honored guests. They didn’t care about the impropriety of the gesture. They were young and in love. Her cousins swooned with envy knowing Yalena’s husband was defending their family name while their spouses were lounging by the pool. 

With a proud smile on her face, she watched him saunter out the door, confident that his two-month absence would be nothing compared to the decades of prosperity ahead of them. A lonely blip in a lifetime of happiness. 

“He’s a fool to leave the most beautiful woman on the planet unattended for so long,” the pompous brother of a friend of her father’s whispered in her ear. “You never know who might snatch up a pretty thing like you.”

Yalena politely moved away from the man, but he followed her like a vulture starving for money. “It is you who is the fool,” she snapped, “thinking you have  _ any _ right to speak to me like I am an object that can be stolen.” Out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of an acquaintance whose name she couldn’t quite remember. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a darling friend I’m just dying to see before the night is over.”

Yalena approached the woman, whose name she swiftly learned was Lorena, and the two of them walked arm in arm into the garden for a night of drinking under the stars. Nothing bonded two women faster than the presence of a predatory man. 

That night, she lay in bed vowing to murder whichever guard allowed such a disgusting man to enter her family’s estate, but the next morning, she strolled into the dining hall to find a great surprise. The pompous man was perched proudly beside her father at their breakfast table. For a reason unbeknownst to Yalena, her father either enjoyed the man’s company or he owed him a great debt. She strongly suspected the latter. For all her father’s faults, his judgement was impeccable. He’d never let such a man into his life without reason.

She reluctantly sat across from him, ignoring a string of blasé compliments that Yalena couldn’t imagine would have seduced even the lowest of Qreshi women. The man’s intentions were clear as freshly polished glass, his personality as dry as dirt. 

Two months and four days later, she attended another in a string of endless brunches. Bored and lonely, she counted the minutes since her husband had been due to return to her. For two months, she had gladly lived her life without her husband by her side, knowing their family name was well worth a small personal sacrifice. Her life was not so tied to his that she would wither up and die without him, but she missed his touch, his voice, even his stories. Each lonely day that passed since she had been promised his return felt like an eternity. 

“He’s still not back?” her unwanted suitor asked.

“It’s only been a few days since he was due to return.” Yalena plastered a false smile on her face. “You know how unreliable interplanetary travel can be.”

“I do.” He nodded, his eyes sparkling with delight. “And you know what they say about the real reason Qreshi men go on business trips.” 

Of course she knew. Everyone knew. Her own father had an off-world mistress who he had long ago given up trying to hide. Her mother almost certainly had one too, or maybe she was fucking the chef. It didn’t really matter. Their marital strife never bothered Yalena. She and Khlyen had been inseparable since their sixth summer. They weren’t like her parents. They weren’t like anyone else.

Their love was the kind that inspired epic poetry, the kind other couples could only dream of. It transcended simple romance… but she and Khlyen hadn’t been apart since they were children. What if they were naive to think such things? What if Khlyen had discovered what drove other couples into the beds of strangers?

Those questions were fleeting, but they terrified her deep in her soul. 

As she downed a glass of wine to warm her nerves, a welcome arm slid around her waist to warm her soul. “Did you miss me?” Khlyen asked as he sat beside her, the foolish man shrinking back in disgust. 

“You were gone?” Yalena popped a berry into her mouth and playfully raised her eyebrows. “Father has invited so many guests that I can hardly keep track of who comes and goes from this estate.” 

With a grin on his face, Khlyen poured himself a glass of wine. “You’re so full of shit.” 

“I am many things, but not that. Never that.” 

“Of course you are.” 

“Khlyen Kin Rit, what makes you think you know me better than I know myself?” 

“Because I know that you and I are the same.” Khlyen lifted a berry to her lips, his hand resting below her chin as she took it between her teeth. “We like the same food.” 

“We want the same things.” He gently kissed her lips, the taste of his wine lingering as he pulled away. 

“And we dream the same dreams.” Khlyen tugged her body close to his, pressing his forehead against the side of hers. “Every night the same dream, the same story - our story. Our beautiful reunion. It was written in the stars.” 

Yalena rolled her eyes, fighting a losing battle against the smile that had overtaken her face. “You and your stories. Sometimes I worry you think we’re not even real people.”

Khlyen opened his mouth to speak, but his smile faltered as he noticed the man watching them from across the table. “And who are you?”

“Someone who is quite keen on fighting you,” Yalena answered before the man had a chance to speak. “And I am quite keen on watching you punch him in the face.”

“Oh.” Khlyen raised an eyebrow. “Well, I’ve just returned home after an extended journey, and I wish to spend the evening with my wife, but if you’d like, we can schedule a brawl in the courtyard for tomorrow afternoon. I have nothing planned, but I do have one question - why do you want to fight me?”

The man shrugged in defeat and stood. “She’s mistaken. I don’t want to fight.” Staring into Yalena’s eyes, he added, “Your cousin’s looking lovely in that dress this morning.” She assumed he meant to make her jealous. He failed. 

“What was that?” Khlyen asked as soon as the man disappeared from sight.

“A temporary nuisance.” Yalena flicked her hand in his direction. “Nothing worth a queen’s time.” 

Yalena wrapped her arms around her husband. “I love you,” she whispered in her memory and in her cryopod. It didn’t matter if it took two months or two thousand years, Khlyen would return for her. He always had and he always would.

**Author's Note:**

> I've got two other Killjoys fics started (another Zeph/Fairuza and a Clara/Fairuza - I'm here for all the Fairuza femslash), but I started this one and finished it super quickly. I never expected to ship Khlyen with anyone, but here I am making up backstory!


End file.
